


Before the water gets cold

by MiriamMT



Series: Gallavich OneShots (no smut) [45]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Bathtubs, Confrontations, Fuckbuddies, Ian Gallagher Being an Idiot, Ian Gallagher Uses His Words, M/M, Messy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23285284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriamMT/pseuds/MiriamMT
Summary: Mickey and Ian are in a messy on-off sex relationship. Mickey is getting tired of Ian not knowing what he wants from the Milkovich, so he confronts him about it.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Series: Gallavich OneShots (no smut) [45]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1525730
Comments: 1
Kudos: 68





	Before the water gets cold

**Author's Note:**

> So guys... I have a very undefined situation going on with a guy for over two years now. this one shot is inspired by this "relationship" - I even took our real chats and translated them  
> But it's not as dramatic as in this oneshot, is something I wrote what I thought I could say If I ever planned on actually confronting him big time. But I don't, I'm also not hopelessly in love with him or someshit.  
> Enjoy 
> 
> (By now I've got two casual sex relationships going on right now (one with my ex one with the guy I wrote about), kinda proud of myself, except that they're both boys and every time I do something with them I'm even more convinced my sexuality leans way more towards women)

Mickey and Ian have been going on for some years... it was messy.  
They had met in High School when Mickey was held back, again, and landed in most of Ian Gallagher's classes.

Mickey had developed a fast crush on the ginger. He was smart and funny, even though Mickey was sometimes annoyed when Ian was a bit to quick for him – Mickey was smart too, he just didn't have the concentration for most of the school's bullshit.

One thing led to the other and one new years eve, Ian came over to Mickey's house, where he was alone. They got drunk and Ian told him about his crush on another guy, Caleb, and how much he just wanted to have sex with him right now – and then they fucked.

It was a weird thing to happen. But it felt good, so they continued.

Mickey had no idea how he was feeling about this. He had been crushing on Ian, then the crush was as good as gone and then they had started fucking around. Every time Ian came over, they drank some booze before getting on each other, Ian often talked about his crush on Caleb. Maybe, he should have been hurt because Ian was just taking him for sex while wanting to be with someone else – but he wasn't hurt, or even jealous. Because, after all, Ian fucked him, not Caleb.

School ended, but they didn't. shortly before graduation things got tense between them. Ian was in love with someone else by now, a dude called Trevor, and Mickey actually felt hurt when he was about to go to a party where Ian would be too, and Ian had sent him a text, asking him to not talk to him at the party, so Trevor wouldn't get wrong ideas. – That hurt.

Then their rhythm started. Without school they didn't see each other regularly anymore, and Mickey thought he was getting it on with Trevor or whoever anyways, but a few months after graduation, Ian sent him a text.

They wanted to meet up to get drunk and catch up, but it didn't take long and Mickey's cock was down Ian's throat again, after he told him that Trevor was just annoying, and he didn't even fuck him before dumping him.

Since then Ian seemed to remember Mickey's existence all 4-6 months.  
All 4-6 months, Ian would start texting him and they would meet up late at night to get hammered. It was always the same game. They were texting as if it was just about the booze, even though both knew where this would lead.

Three years of this, and it's been 5 months since their last contact again. Mickey anticipated Ian to text him any day now. He wasn't _waiting_ for it, he just knew it would happen.  
In the afternoon on a Sunday, Ian followed him on Instagram again. He liked a few of his old pictures and Mickey _knew_.

Around fifteen minutes later, he got the first text. He recently moved into a new apartment that Ian hadn't seen yet.

 **Ian:** How's the new apartment?

 **Mickey:** Great. Heat's working, so that's a plus

 **Ian:** That's a start yeah. When did you move out?

 **Mickey** : December

 **Ian** : Everything furnitured already?

And Mickey knew exactly what he had to answer. It was a game and Mickey knew what to write for them to end up with Ian in his apartment. They both knew where this would lead, why they were texting right now, that Ian didn't actually care about working heaters or Mickey's new apartment.

 **Mickey** : Yes, everything complete with TV and booze shelf

 **Ian** : damn, can I test that booze shelf some time?

Mickey got up from the couch to his kitchen and took a photo of the booze shelf to sent it to Ian. It was on now, there was no going back, he would get dick tonight.

 **Mickey:** Of course

 **Ian:** perfect! Tonight?

 **Mickey:** Okay, but got nothing to mix here

 **Ian:** I'll bring some

 **Mickey** : great, when?

 **Ian** : 10 o clock?

Mickey quickly sent him his new address.

 **Ian:** See you then

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+

Ian had never been punctual, not that it mattered, Mickey had used the last hours to clean his apartment, clean his body and put on come clothes, that he knew he looked hot in, on.

It's always the same procedure. Mickey didn't mind the game. He liked preparing for Ian, he liked the game, he liked only seeing him all 4-6 months. It was weird, but it always gave him a boost of self-esteem, because with Ian he could just be the way he was. He didn't have to act around Ian, like he usually did with others, how he did in the beginning with Ian too. He could be just himself, because even if he would make a fool out of himself, causing Ian to never come back, Mickey wouldn't care as much as he would have some years ago. He wouldn't be heartbroken or anything, because he didn't allow himself to get that attached to Ian. If Ian would never contact him again, it wouldn't be different than how they already spent most of the time – not talking.

Ian arrived 10:15, he got inside and mixed their first drinks for the evening. They started out with talking about what Ian had been up to the last months, then Mickey tried to talk about what he had been up to, but Ian kept talking over him and interrupting him, so Mickey kept drinking.

They ended up making out in the kitchen, Mickey sat on the kitchen counter.  
"I knew we'd end up here", Mickey mumbled when Ian pulled away.  
"You mean, you hoped."  
"No, I knew we would make out in the kitchen."  
"You wished it would happen"  
Mickey shook his head and pulled him back in.

They kept drinking for a while, Mickey always drank more than Ian, when he finished his second glass. Ian smirked and scooped him up from the couch, he carried him to the bed and lowered him on the mattress.

Ian took his clothes off and pretty much tore Mickey's clothes off, they made out and jerked each other off, but... Ian didn't get hard.

Mickey was hard and ready, but Ian... even when Mickey blew him, nothing happened. Eventually Ian sighed deeply when Mickey got up from him and lay next to him, just looking at him.  
"Shit, I'm sorry, I thought it would work today."

This hasn't been the first time Ian couldn't get hard, in fact he couldn't most of the time. Mickey didn't mind, because Ian was always down to blow him and eat him out, he was even willing to stick Mickey's sex toys up his ass. But no matter what they tried, no matter how horny Ian was and how much he really wanted to have sex with Mickey, it wasn't working.

Mickey had gotten used to it by now, the only difference was, that a few minutes ago, Ian had told him about his newest ex-boyfriend. They have had sex, and no problems, ever, broke up two weeks ago.

"Maybe you just don't find me attractive after all", Mickey said, "It's alright, you can admit it, I won't cry like an insecure bitch."  
Ian looked at him, "I think you're really sexy, you look fucking handsome and I just want to fuck you, trust me, it's not you. I don't know what's going on, I'm sorry."

Mickey shrugged, "Stop apologizing, Gallagher, you can put that mouth to use in better ways."  
Ian smirked at him and kissed him, kissed down his body to his cock and started sucking him off. But even when he tried eating him out, he was off his game. At some point, his quick moving fingers inside of him just hurt, and Mickey had to say "Ow", at some point and put his foot on his shoulder, gently pushing him away.

They were silent and ended up just lying in Mickey's bed, naked, spooning.  
That's how Mickey fell asleep. He liked falling asleep in Ian's arms, it was a nice feeling.  
He woke up around four am and Ian was gone, he would wait the whole day before texting him "When did you leave" and Ian would take half an hour to answer "Around two I think"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey knew, he wasn't the problem. He refused to believe he was the problem, because Ian was not afraid to speak his mind, and if he wouldn't find him sexually attractive, he could just say so or just not contact him again. But he contacted him every time, because he wanted to have sex – right?

Mickey thought, Ian's actual problem was, that he himself didn't know what he wanted. Maybe he was one of those guys who needed some feeling towards someone to fuck them, any kind of feelings. Some connection, maybe it was just too cold and rational between them. They were always playing the game, following the plan, everything the same for three years. There was no passion.

But the reason for that was, simple as it was, that Ian couldn't make up his mind. He didn't know what he wanted from Mickey: A relationship, lovers, fuckbuddies, friends or nothing at all. Mickey would be fine with every single one of those, if he would just finally know, what Ian wanted from him.

And even though he enjoyed the 4-6 months schedule they had going on, he was kinda sick of it by now. He needed to know, if they were gonna keep up this game, or if he should finally move on for good. He enjoyed having this undefined relationship, but maybe it being undefined was the problem and it started to get on Mickey's nerves.

He texted Ian a few days later, he was in the bathtub at the moment and sent Ian a picture of his naked body disappearing beneath foam.

 **Ian:** I like that view...

 **Mickey:** My tub's big enough you can join me the next time

 **Ian:** I have to see when I have time

There was their problem directly on the screen. Too rational, too cold. Nothing sexy or passionate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey was tired of it.  
He was tired of not knowing what Ian wanted from him, if he liked him at all.  
He was tired of always having to ask him, how close he was allowed to get when they were in a public place.

It was funny in a way, Mickey had always thought, that he would always be the problem, no matter who he was with. Given Mickey's childhood and his dad, it would be natural if Mickey wasn't willing to show himself with Ian in public – and he wasn't. But when they happened to go to the same party, Mickey always had to ask, if it was okay if he stood near him or talked to him, if it was okay to make out in a corner or if he should ignore him for the night because Ian wanted to flirt with other people.

Ian needed to make up his fucking mind. He needed to know what he wanted from Mickey – Mickey needed to know.

He had asked him over for that bath Mickey teased him about.  
The bathtub was almost full of warm water, when Ian arrived.

"Hey", Ian smiled when he came in.  
"Hi, take your clothes off"  
Ian chuckled, "Quick today, huh? No drinking first?"  
"No, you're getting in the bathtub with me."  
"You were serious about that?"  
"Sure. Come on, I'm not waiting for long."

Mickey went to the bathroom, took his clothes off and got into the tub, Ian followed him and looked down at him from outside the tub.  
"I could just watch you from out here, it's a nice view."  
"The view is better from up close, Gallagher, come in."

Ian smirked, took his clothes off as well and told Mickey to make some space between him and the end of the tub so Ian could get behind him. He pulled Mickey against him, who rested his head against his chest.

"This is nice", Ian mumbled, "But why are we doing this?"  
"We need to talk. We're usually just getting drunk and... trying to fuck. We gotta stop with that, man."

He could feel Ian tensing up.  
"What do you mean? I thought you were okay with this arrangement."  
"I am. You aren't."  
"What?"  
"This isn't working for you, obviously. I'm not the one who can't get hard. And the reason is, that we're too rational about this, Ian."

"I don't know what you're talking about", Ian got defensive.  
"You can't get hard, because you don't know what you want from me, it's as simple as that. And you need to get your shit together and figure that out."  
"Or what?"  
"Or what? Or we end it. How long is this supposed to go on? You coming over every 5 months just to not get hard and apologize for it. I tell you something, we have no emotional connection to each other, and the only reason that is, is you."

"Great, blame it all on me. I don't know why I'm not getting hard, Mick, maybe-"  
"I know why you're not getting hard. Because we ain't fucking robots. And because you don't know what you want from me and I don't know what you want from me: Maybe you'd rather have no contact with me at all, or you want us to be just friends, or some sort of lovers with some emotional connection, or boyfriends. You need to make up your mind."

"Why now?", Ian asked eventually.  
"Because I'm getting tired of it."  
"So, it's just about you"  
"Well, usually everything is just about you, so I think it's fair. I tell you what, either you make up your mind and then we'll see how this goes on or you leave... you've got time until the water get's cold."

And with that the topic was closed for Mickey. He had said what he wanted to say. Now, it was Ian's turn.

It took only a few minutes and Ian pushed him away from him and got out of the tub.

"This is bullshit!", Ian said angrily, "I don't have to do shit, you're acting like a little bitch who can't separate Sex and feelings, Mickey! I'm not gonna sit here and tell you what you want to hear, why do you have to ruin this?"  
He pulled his clothes back on.

"I'm leaving, you happy now? I'm not gonna play your stupid little game!"  
Mickey just watched him without saying anything, he knew exactly this would happen. He knew, Ian wouldn't make up his mind, he would rather run out then having to deal with his feelings for Mickey, or lack thereof.

Ian left and Mickey heard the door being thrown shut, while he still sat in his tub in the warm water. He sighed and leaned back.

He took his phone from next to the tub and opened the chat with his ex-boyfriend, Jack.

 **Mickey:** Hey, want to get some drinks tomorrow?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(This used to be part 2 but I put them together)**

Six months passed and Ian didn't make contact again. Their rhythm was gone, it was officially over. Mickey would lie if he'd say it did absolutely nothing to him.

Now it's been seven months.  
Ian walked up to Mickey's building. He stared at his name tag and considered ringing, so Mick would buzz the door for him – but he was afraid he wouldn't let him in if he knew it was Ian.

He leaned against the wall next to the building and lit a cigarette.  
He would just wait until someone would enter or leave the building and act like he just wanted to have a little smoke outside.

His plan worked out when a woman in a party outfit left the house a few minutes later and Ian could enter the building. Mickey lived on the 6th floor and there was no elevator – he hated that a lot.

He finally reached Mickey's door and rang the bell.  
It took Mickey weirdly long to answer – Ian guessed, Mickey saw him through the spy and didn't want to open at first.

"Ian, what are you doing here?"  
Ian walked into the apartment, "I need to talk to you."  
Mickey closed the door, they were standing in the small hallway that connected kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom.

"Who says I want-"  
"Just hear me out!", he put his hands on his cheeks, cupping his face, "I'm sorry that I just ran out on you, okay? But the truth is, not seeing you is fucking awful and I made up my mind, okay? I made up my mind about what I want from you, and I want you by my side and I want to be with you. I want to be your boyfriend, I want every emotional connection possible, okay? I just want you, Mickey."

Mickey looked at him with parted lips. He looked conflicted.

The way Ian had imagined it on his way here, Mickey would be happy about his little speech, would be happy Ian wanted him as boyfriend and would answer, that he wanted the same.  
But Mickey didn't look happy at all. He took Ian's hands away from his cheeks, but still held them in his hands.  
"You had your chance Ian, it's too late."

Ian blinked a few times, "Mick- "

Someone else came from the living room to them.  
A tall guy, maybe taller than Ian, he had red, short hair, but apart from that he looked still very different from Ian.  
Ian looked from Mickey to him and back.

"Everything alright, babe?"  
"I'll be right back, Ian was about leave anyways, right?", Mickey looked up at him.  
The other guy nodded and went back to the living room.

Ian took his hands back from Mickey, "Who's that? Your boyfriend?"  
"He's my, uh, Ex-boyfriend I told you about. We're giving it another shot."  
"Is that the reason you set me an ultimatum? Because you needed to know if I want you or if you should go back to him?"  
Mickey shrugged, "It wasn't an ultimatum. I asked you to make up your mind about me, about this, for the sake of both of us."

"I made up my mind now, Mick."  
"It's too late, you had your chance."  
"It's a fucking hard task, okay? Figuring that out takes longer than until your fucking water gets cold!"  
"But that's exactly the point, Ian", Mickey sighed, as if he couldn't believe that he seriously had to explain this to him, "If you would have said, you need more time, that's one thing. But you ran out before the water could get cold."

Ian looked at him sadly and let himself be pushed out of the apartment by Mickey without either of them saying another word.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ian checked Mickey's Instagram as he did a hundred times every day since the last time, they saw each other.

Mickey wasn't big of an Instagram user, his page consisted of pictures of food, drunk selfies with friends, and dark photos of booze bottles standing around, indicating parties.

But the last picture he had posted showed two coffee cups next to each other and the caption said, "Is this what adult relationships look like?"

Considering that Ian wasn't sure what he felt for Mickey over the last three years, he was pretty overwhelmed by how he was feeling now.

He had never wanted to confront himself about the whole thing with Mickey, never wanted to explore his feelings for the man – he didn't want to want him.

When they started, he was supposed to be his substitute for the guy he actually had a crush on. It wasn't supposed to last for longer than a few weeks, he just wanted to fuck him.

But it went on and then it got messy and Ian couldn't get hard anymore – be that because of his suppressed feelings or because they were always too 'rational' about it.

He never thought, he'd be the kind of guy who needed emotions between them to fuck, Mickey obviously wasn't that kind of guy, since he was ready every time they tried.

Now Ian knew what he wanted from Mickey, and Mickey knew what he wanted too. But that didn't change the fact, that out of the two redheads that had been standing in his apartment, Mickey shoved him out.

Ian sat on the couch in the Gallagher living room, still staring at the picture with the two coffee cups, when Debbie came in with Franny.

"Hey, oh, don't tell me you're stalking his Instagram again."  
"I'm not", Ian said quickly and locked his phone.  
Debbie sighed and sat down next to him, "You can't go on like this. You have to accept that Mickey gave you a choice, you ran out and now there's no going back."  
"I'm accepting it, otherwise I would sit in front of his door and ask him to take me back, but I'm not. Because he is happy with that other guy and he wants him now and not me."

"And accepting it means you're sitting here bathing in self-pity while staring at his Instagram feed?"  
"What else am I supposed to do?"  
"Come to a party with me tonight", Debbie suggested, "Lip said, he'd watch Franny for me, we can go out."  
"We never went out together to party."  
"Then it's time, ain't it? I help you getting over Mickey and you help me landing between the legs of a hot chick tonight. It's called gay-lesbian-solidarity. We leave at nine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ian wasn't in the mood to party. But he let Debbie drag him with her anyways. Now he was standing in someone's kitchen and drank beer, when two guys entered the kitchen too.

"Anyways, you would totally like this Anime too, Mick, it's about a chick cutting people up, it's so cool"  
Ian looked up, Mickey and his boyfriend were standing just a few meters away from him. Mickey hadn't spotted him yet, he tried to drown how uninterested he was in Anime's in a plastic cup filled with Fanta and Jägermeister – a mix Ian had shown him once.

The boyfriend however, had spotted and apparently recognised Ian, he stopped his speech and looked at Ian. Mickey noticed that he had stopped annoying him, so he looked up too and saw Ian.

An uncomfortable silence spread between them.  
"Hey", Ian said eventually.  
"Hi", Mickey nodded and then pulled his boyfriend out of the kitchen again. Ian looked after him and sighed deeply.

An hour later he had to use the bathroom, but it was locked. Ian sighed and stood next to the bathroom door, waiting for whoever was in there to finish up.

When the door opened, he was surprised when Mickey's boyfriend came out – and Mickey right behind him, wiping his mouth while the boyfriend pulled on his own shirt a bit.

Mickey and him locked eyes for a moment – Mickey had just sucked this guy off in the bathroom at a party. It reminded him how Mickey had always sent him a text when they were about to go to the same party "Which level of closeness is allowed today", was how he usually worded it. Apparently, the level went from Completely ignore (which Ian often chose) to Blowjob in the bathroom (which Mickey's boyfriend now got)

Ian wordlessly turned around and left the party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later

Ian just got off work and was on his way home, deciding to walk today.  
Halfway home, he found himself face to face with Mickey's boyfriend suddenly.  
He looked away and quickly wanted to pass him, but the guy had other plans.

"Hey, it's Ian, right?"  
Ian sighed and looked at him, "Yeah, and you're Mickey's new old boyfriend."  
"Name's Jack, listen, I want to talk to you."  
"Hey, man, don't worry, I totally respect Mickey's with you, I'm not trying to get him back or some shit.", Ian had no interest in talking with this man, he just wanted to get away from him.

"That's not what I was worrying about. I just want a talk, it's about Mickey."  
Ian ran his hand through his hair, "Make it quick."  
"Here?"  
"What, you want to sit down in a cosy coffee shop or some shit?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "Alright, here's the thing: You need to get back together with Mickey."

Okay, that took a turn Ian didn't expect.  
"What?", he asked confused.  
"Get your ass up and beg him to take you back. If you really want him, make some effort."

He looked at him with raised eyebrows, "I don't get it, do you want to get rid of him or what?"  
"No...", Jack looked to the ground, "I love him, but... he wants you, not me. I know that. See, we talked about trying it again with each other shortly after his fall out with you, and we got back together a few months later because he changed a lot since we were a couple and we thought it would work now. And this time our relationship works better than the last time, that's true, because he has changed and it's a lot easier now. But his behaviour back then wasn't our only problem, and now all our other problems are more prominent. We got different interests, different taste in movies, music, people. He can't stand most of my friends, we just don't really work in the outside world, we only work in his living room, you know? And since you were there, telling him that you want to be his boyfriend, I can tell that his mind in constantly on you."

Ian felt almost sorry for Jack. He seemed like a nice dude, but sometimes two people just aren't meant to be together, despite them wanting to.

"Who says he would be better off with me? Maybe we don't work outside of his apartment either."  
Jack looked up at him again, "Did you ever try?"  
"What?"  
"Mickey once said that he thinks you think you don't work out as a couple, what didn't make sense to him, because you weren't even willing to try being a couple so how would you know?"

"He talked with you about me and him?"  
"Sure", Jack nodded, "We were friends before we decided to get back together, and he told me a lot in the time between you running out on him and us getting back together. So, here's what we will do now: You will do whatever it takes to get that man back. And I will step down. But I do that because his happiness is important to me, so when I hear that you fucked up and hurt him, I will hurt you. We clear?"

Ian bit his bottom lip and nodded.  
Jack took a deep breath, letting Mickey go like this obviously wasn't easy for him.  
"I still don't understand why you would do this, if you love him."  
Jack smiled, "You want him too and you said you wouldn't try to get him back or anything. Why is that? Because you thought he was happy with me, right? I think he's gonna be happier with you, that's all.", Jack got something out of his pocket and handed it to Ian, "Here are his keys he comes home around five. Make an effort."

Ian took the keys from him, "This would feel better if you'd be a jerk."  
"I'm handing you a second chance with Mick on a silver plate, you can at least deal with a bit bad feeling about it towards me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey came home around five, he cursed the stairs while unlocking his apartment door.  
He switched on the light in the hallway and closed the door.

"Hey, Mick"  
Mickey almost had a heart attack when Ian's voice came from the door to the kitchen.

"Ian? What the fuck are you doing here?", he walked up to him, "How did you get in? Fucking leave, now!"

"No, Mick, hear me out, okay? I just want a second chance"  
"You had your chance, after you had three years of chance, Ian. Did you break in?!"  
"No, your ex-boyfriend gave me the keys."

"Why would Jack give you the keys, what are you talking about?"  
"Because even he thinks that you should give me another chance."

Mickey looked up at him confused.  
"We talked today, he said, he knows that you want to be with me and would be happier with me. He said I have to make an effort and beg you on my knees, so", he sunk down on both his knees in front of Mickey, "Mick, please get back into the bathtub with me, just until the water gets cold, then you can still send me away... or keep me here. Please."

Mickey looked down at him and sighed. "Fuck, get up man, you're making a fool out of yourself."  
Ian shook his head, "I'm gonna beg on my knees until you get into the tub."  
Mickey knew he was serious about this, so he nodded, "Okay, I take a bath with you. Just get up."

Mickey turned around and went to the bathroom, Ian followed him.

Mickey stopped when he opened the door to the bathroom. Ian really made an effort.  
He had lit vanilla scented candles and places them around the bathtub, which was filled with hot water and bubbles.  
"Leave the lights out", Ian mumbled.

"Since when are you a sappy romantic? And since when do you think I am too?"  
"See this as the supressed romance of the last three years."

Mickey and Ian slowly took their clothes off and Ian got into the tub first, "Come here", he whispered. Mickey hesitated but sat between his legs and leaned against his chest, like the last time.

Ian wrapped his arms around Mickey.  
"I want you to be my boyfriend", Ian mumbled, "I want you every day and not just some days all 5 months. I want to go to parties with you, I want to kiss you, I want to cuddle with you, I want you to fall asleep in my arms, I want to drink coffee with you in the morning, I want you to get along with my friends, I want you to meet my family, I want to be in your Instagram posts and in the stories you tell your friends. That's what I want from you, Mick, I want you."

They were silent for a while.  
"Do you want me too?", Ian finally asked, sounding choked up.  
Mickey turned around to him, "I... I don't know, Ian"

Ian looked at him confused and then leaned his head, back sighing and biting his lip, "Fuck"  
"Hey, Gallagher, listen to me. What you would have found out, if we would have talked about it when I asked you to, is that I wanted you to make your mind up about me, so I finally know what to do. Back then I was thinking about getting back together with Jack, but that's not the point. The last years, I shoved every feeling that could be there away from me, because I didn't know for how long you would keep me around, and I thought if I'd allow myself to have feelings for you, I will get hurt in the end. So if you want it, I can let those feelings happen and we can see where we're going from there.", He cupped Ian's cheeks and made him look at him, "But what I can tell you with absolute certainty is that I missed you... and I wanted to be with you rather than with Jack... and when we met at the party, I was so close to take you and make out with you in the kitchen."

Ian smiled lightly, "Will you be my boyfriend, even though there is the possibility it won't work out?"  
Mickey nodded, "Yeah", he whispered and kissed him. Ian wrapped his arms tighter around him and kissed him back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey woke up in Ian's arms the next morning. He liked this. A lot.

He freed himself out of his arms and sat up. He looked back to Ian, how he lay there peacefully. He never got to see him like this until now.

Mickey smiled and took his phone and went to the kitchen.  
He took two coffee cups and started the coffee machine while dialling Jack's number.

"Hey", Jack answered the phone.  
"Hi Jack... listen, Ian came by yesterday...", he mumbled. Ian had said that it had been Jack's idea, but he still wasn't sure if he cheated on his boyfriend yesterday.

"He better did, I told him so."  
"So, you really did that, huh?"  
"Yeah... I like you a lot Mickey, but we both know that we just don't belong together and that you want him, not me."

Mickey looked at the coffee cups in front of him, "I'm sorry, Jack"  
"It's alright, Mick, really. But hey, if that dude ever fucks up, tell me, I'll beat him up for you."  
"What, you think I can't beat him up myself?"  
Jack chuckled, "Of course you do. Good luck with him, Mickey."  
"Thank you."  
"Bye"  
"Bye", Mickey hung up and smiled while making the coffee for him and Ian.

He came back to the bedroom, Ian was awake by now and smiled when he saw him.  
"Morning", Mickey mumbled.  
"Morning", he smiled and sat up, so Mickey could give him his coffee.

"I could get used to this", Ian mumbled.  
"Me too, so better don't fuck it up."  
Ian leaned towards him and kissed him. 

**Author's Note:**

> It's my birthday tomorrow on 25th and I had to cancel my party. I will go to my mom's place though and celebrate with her and my brothers, but not with the rest of family (I don't like them anyways, so it's not so bad)
> 
> But to everybody whose birthday is in this or the next month: We deserve to at least celebrate with some people. No big parties with friends, but at least visit your family, we deserve that much even though some twitter assholes who still live with their parents say we aren't allowed to "whine" about our "ruined" birthdays!


End file.
